Giving Stories

The second year of my PhD has been most rewarding. With the bulk of coursework completed, this year was chock-full of new and enjoyable experiences, albeit challenging too. One of the many highlights of the year was being able to present a poster at the One-Health Conference in Saskatoon, Canada. This conference was particularly exciting as it gave me the chance to meet with and learn from other like-minded researchers from diverse backgrounds, especially in a quickly developing field of research.

In addition, data collection in Cambodia for one of my projects finally took off. During this time, I had the experience of working with data collectors and project managers from KHANA, a local non-governmental organisation (photo above). Being able to work closely with local professionals and field workers was an extremely fulfilling experience, and we encountered firsthand challenges of conducting research within the parameters of another country. While I learnt all about epidemiology concepts in the classroom the last few semesters, being able to adapt and apply these concepts proved to be far more gratifying. As the third year of my PhD approaches quickly, I am excited to continue on the data collection. As data slowly trickle in, I will be continuing to learn techniques to analyse the data.

Every day brings new opportunities to test skills we learnt in a classroom setting and to forge new collaborative partnerships. Given all that I have gotten so far from my academic experience in this fast-paced and competitive environment, I am looking forward to all the other possibilities that will come up and that will continue to push my boundaries as a student of this incredible community.